Although we recognize that plenty of good things happened in 2022, the start of a new year can be melancholy – sadness for the people who are no longer part of our lives, regret over mistakes or missed opportunities, self-criticism for goals left unfinished. It’s easy to let those negative thoughts overpower the good ones until we’ve ruminated into a funk.
But how about if we try something different this year?
How about if we tell those negative voices in our heads to
take a hike,
hit the road,
get lost,
vamoose,
make like a tree and leave,
get out of Dodge,
beat it,
call it a day,
make yourself scarce,
go fly a kite,
make like a banana and split,
buzz off,
take a powder….
You get the idea.
Pay attention to those negative trains of thought and derail them! Tongue in cheek, but no less accurate. You don’t have to be a slave to those critical, disapproving, judgmental voices in your head.
When you catch your brain trash-talking you, turn it off. Literally do something else – recite a positive affirmation, say a prayer for yourself or someone else, do a few jumping jacks or deep knee bends – whatever it takes to get your ruminating brain out of the rut it’s digging.
Because just like our brains can have negative ruts that keep us trapped, with practice, we can build positive ones that are even deeper.
So instead of beating myself up because I didn’t post enough on this blog, I’ll fixate on the articles and posts I got published elsewhere. Instead of regretting goals that didn’t come to fruition, I’ll focus on ones that did.
How about you? Can you reframe those negative thoughts about 2022 into positive ones?
I’ll answer that – yes, you can!